Exactly what the mission will accomplish remains vague. The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairssays that any member nation can submit a proposal for a possible payload for the flight, although it’s primarily geared towards countries with no space programme of their own.

Before we get too excited about another spacecraft heading up, however, there’s still the big question of where the money to launch would come from. The countries whose payloads were selected would pay towards the flight, but UNOOSA also says it’s still looking for “major sponsors” who would be responsible for much of the overall mission cost, with no assurance that it will find them. If that money does come through, though, the first UN space mission will launch just five years from now. [Motherboard, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs]